Wall Street mixed as stress tests loom

Agencies|

May 06, 2009, 08.58 PM IST

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NEW YORK: Wall Street stocks traded mixed on Wednesday as the market mulled a better-than-expected survey on US private-sector job losses while some fretted over upcoming results of "stress tests" on the banking system.

At 1510 GMT, the Dow Jones Industrial Average traded up 29.07 points (0.35 per cent) to 8,439.72, rebounding from modest losses on Tuesday.

The market got a lift from a survey by private payrolls firm ADP that the US private sector shed 491,000 jobs in April, fewer than expected by analysts and offering further support for the notion that the recession is easing.

"This news is encouraging for the market since it fits the bottoming-out thesis," said Patrick O'Hare at Briefing.com.

"However, it isn't much cause for economic celebration that 'only' 491,000 positions were lost in the private sector in April."

This helped ease pre-market jitters amid reports that Bank of America may need to raise as much as 34 billion dollars in capital to meet the requirements of the US government stress tests.

Bonds weakened. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury bond increased to 3.171 per cent from 3.157 per cent Tuesday and that on the 30-year bond rose to 4.064 per cent against 4.053 per cent. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions.